Hobbies And Interests
Jumping Spiders
Jumping spiders are common throughout the U.S., including Michigan, and in a variety of habitats. They are common in woodlands and are also often found in the house. Jumping spiders earn their name for their extraordinary ability to jump, often 50 times the length of their bodies. Jumping spiders also have excellent vision and are further distinguished from other spider species by four big eyes on their faces and four smaller eyes on the tops of their heads. According to zoologist Wayne Maddison of the University of British Columbia, jumping spiders hunt their prey like cats, spotting them from far away and pouncing upon them. Using their keen vision, jumping spiders watch people almost as closely as people watch them and court each other through an elaborate dance.
Crab Spiders
The family Thomisidae, or crab spiders, consists of more than 3,000 species found worldwide, only a small fraction of which are found in Michigan. Crab spiders are named for the way that they hold their front legs sideways like a crab. Crab spiders do not build webs but rely on camouflage to capture their prey. Often brilliantly colored and patterned, crab spiders choose hunting grounds where they closely match the color and texture of their surroundings -- inside flowers, on leaves or along twigs. When unsuspecting prey comes along, they use their strong front legs and grab it.
Wolf Spiders
Wolf spiders are large spiders common throughout the U.S., including Michigan, where they are generally found outdoors on the ground in nearly any habitat, although they sometimes move indoors to spend the winter. Their leg span can reach up to four inches. Like jumping spiders, wolf spiders stalk and capture their prey without the use of a web, sometimes hiding in burrows and chasing down any prey that comes by. Wolf spiders are also distinct from other spiders because females generally carry their egg sacs with them, attaching them under their bodies and lifting their bodies so that the egg sac is not damaged. Wolf spiders' eyes reflect light, so shining a flashlight into an area where wolf spiders are common often shows darts of light reflected from their eyes. Related to the wolf spider and documented by Michigan's Backyard Arthropod Project is the fishing spider, another large spider that hunts in a similar fashion to the wolf spider though, as its name suggests, it prefers areas near water, sometimes even catching small fish as prey.
Harvestmen
Harvestmen are arachnids but not spiders; however, most people recognize them as "daddy long-legs," they become ubiquitous in the autumn. Their non-segmented bodies and two small eyes set them apart from most arachnids. They do not build webs but hunt on the ground, using their long legs to position themselves over their prey and, in the words of the Backyard Arthropod Project, use their mouths to "mangle it to death before eating."